Russian Navy ship paraded in propaganda footage 'destroyed by Ukraine'
Ukrainian officials claim to have destroyed a Russian Navy ship that was paraded on television in propaganda footage a few days ago.
The 370ft landing ship "Orsk" was situated near the Russian-occupied port of Berdyansk on the Azov Sea with Russian army TV describing its arrival as an “epic event” in the Ukraine crisis because it was the first Russian warship to dock there.
Armoured personnel carriers were seen being offloaded from the Alligator class vessel in the footage, filmed by Russian state TV reporter Murad Gazdiev.
However, on Thursday, the Ukrainian Navy claimed to have destroyed the vessel, with footage showing a column of smoke rising up from a blaze beside the dock, along with a flash of an explosion.
Deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar told a video briefing: ”Yes, it's destroyed.”
The ship was capable of carrying 45 armoured personnel carriers and 400 people, she added.
The official Ministry of Defence of Ukraine Twitter page posted a picture of the "Orsk" and an explosion alongside, tweeting: “Celebration of one month since the beginning of the Russian invasion took place in Hell…The highlight of the column of military machinery was Russian large landing ship Orsk.”
Some have highlighted the difficulty Moscow will now have in explaining away the loss of a ship it was celebrating just days earlier.
ABC News foreign correspondent James Longman added that Russian TV was “very proud to show off the Orsk”, adding: “Ukraine say they were tracking it for days, and that it had weapons and ammunition to continue the siege of Mariupol. And they’ve blown it up.”
In a month of fighting, Ukraine has fended off what many Western military analysts had warned could be a quick Russian victory.
So far Russia has failed to capture a single major city, while its armoured columns have barely moved in weeks, besieging cities in the east and stalling at the gates of Kyiv, taking heavy casualties and running low on supplies.
Recent defence intelligence from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) claims that Russian forces have suffered thousands of casualties – estimated to be in the region of 40,000 – since the start of the invasion.
The MoD added that Russia is looking to reservist manpower to boost their numbers, as well as foreign mercenaries to “replace these considerable losses”.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has hit the paramilitary Wagner Group – seen as Vladimir Putin’s private army – in a raft of new sanctions as he urged allies to “step up” support against the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The prime minister is using a Nato emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday to commit to a new package, including 6,000 more missiles for Ukraine and pressing to prevent the Russian president using his gold reserves.
Johnson will be joined by world leaders, including US president Joe Biden, as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for worldwide demonstrations to mark a month since Russia launched its attack.
Zelenskyy will remotely address the meeting, which is expected to sign off on the formation of four new battlegroups in eastern Europe, adding thousands more troops.
